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Flight Video Gallery

To access these videos, click on the image or on the size link to the right. These videos are in the Microsoft WMV format.
2007 and 2008 Videos

These videos show a subset of all the demonstrations we have performed in-house.
6DOF hover in place

January 2008

4.1MB

Helicopter holds it's 6DOF position using only visual information from a ring of 6 Arz sensors mounted in the yaw plane. No gyro was used.
Avoid obstacles

January 2008

5.1MB

Helicopter is flown into various obstacles by the pilot. Sensors detect looming obstacle and take control over from human pilot to avoid obstacle.
Drive down tunnel

March 2007

3.8MB

RC car drive 3 meters per second down curvy tunnel, using only two Mantis sensors for control.
2002 and 2003 Obstacle Avoidance and Saccade Clips

These videos are older but still interesting. Obstacle avoidance is significantly more difficult than simple altitude control (shown below), since both the sensing and control tasks are more complex.
Obstacle avoidance

October 2003

845kB (low resolution)

7.8MB (high resolution)

Avoid collisions by turning away from regions with high optic flow.

All sensing and control is performed on aircraft. Human is 100% out of the loop.
This clip shows two impressive obstacle avoidance flights. In each flight, the aircraft makes multiple turns away from trees, and comes down when the automatic throttle shut-off activates. Sharp turns away from trees are due to the obstacle avoidance algorithm. Gentle turns are due to either breezes or the rudder being slightly off-center. Also in these two flights only one person was present to set up the aircraft, launch it, and then perform videography. The resulting videos are a bit jagged as a result, but this shows that the entire system is simple enough so that research activities can be carried out by one person.
Obstacle avoidance

August 2003

444kB (low resolution)

5.5MB (high resolution)

Avoid collisions by turning away from regions with high optic flow.

All sensing and control performed on aircraft.
This clip shows one of our most visually impressive obstacle avoidance trials in 2003. The aircraft is thrown towards a corner in the tree line, and manages to work it's way out of the corner, avoiding trees and bushes alike. The automatic throttle shut-off activates at the end of the flight, causing the aircraft to land. The human was 100% out of the loop after launch.
Gentle saccade away from obstacles

July 2003

253kB (low resolution)

Avoid collisions by turning away from regions with high optic flow

All sensing and control performed on aircraft
We spent the Summer of 2003 shrinking the Reflex controller and sensors to fit onto a smaller aircraft. By July, we were flying the sensors in a control loop on a powered aircraft, but using limited rudder authority to turn the aircraft. Here, you see two flights. In the first, you see the aircraft turn away from both the tree and the wall. The aircraft was accidentally released with a slight roll to the left, so there is a chance that it would have missed the tree anyway. However this still makes a nice video. In the second flight you see a different aircraft steer to avoid the same tree.

In case you are curious, Centeye founder Geoffrey Barrows did not make the graffiti.
Saccade away from tree

September 2002

253kB (medium resolution)

Turn away from tree

Control shared between human and sensors. Human steers aircraft towards tree and lets go of control sticks.
We attempted obstacle avoidance many times in 2002 and early 2003. In general, we found that although the sensors detected the obstacle, the Wingo aircraft was simply not maneuverable enough to avoid the collision in sufficient time. This fact was verified by post-flight analysis of flight data. However there were rare times in which the aircraft managed to steer away from the tree. Above is one such clip.
2001 and 2002 Altitude Control and Terrain Following Clips

We have been performing altitude control for many years now. In our opinion, this capability is sufficiently reliable and advanced that one can start integrating it with broad classes of UAV platforms. The videos below are old, but depict what can be performed using just a few tens of pixels.
Altitude control

August 2001

621kB (medium resolution)

Single optic flow sensor aimed downward measures altitude.

Human steered aircraft via rudder, sensor controlled altitude via the elevator.
This is one of the earliest demonstrations of altitude control performed at Centeye. This early optic flow sensor had only eight pixels. Two segments are shown. The aircraft was set to fly at a higher altitude in the first clip than the second. You will notice that the aircraft tends to fly higher in some directions than others. This is partially because wind affects the ground speed of the aircraft. You will also hear a tone generated by an early downlink. The tone's frequency increases with decreased optic flow and hence increased altitude.
Altitude control over snow

December 2002

1.4MB (medium resolution)

Single optic flow sensor aimed downward measures altitude.

Human steered aircraft via rudder, sensor controlled altitude via the elevator.
An unusually cold winter for the Washington, DC area gave us a chance to fly in snowy conditions. Here you see the aircraft performing altitude control over snow on a cloudy day. We also flew over unbroken snow that same day. This clips shows the sensitivity of the Ladybug sensors.
Ascend and descend hill

September 2001

607kB (medium resolution)

Single optic flow sensor aimed downward measures altitude.

Human steered aircraft via rudder, sensor controlled altitude via the elevator, except for sharp turns at top and bottom of hill.
Ascending and descending a hill is a precursor to terrain following. This clip shows the aircraft descending and then ascending a relatively shallow (15 degree) gradient. We are looking for a test site with steep hills to test more advanced terrain following over steeper terrain.